WWE’s Premium Live Event, Bad Blood took place on Saturday, October 5th live from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. A very fitting title as all 5 matches on the card were rivalries that carried some legit bad blood coming into the show. We saw a brutal Hell in a Cell match, Dominik hoisted into the air in a shark cage, a potential cash in opportunity (or not?), and some big-time returns all wrapped up tightly into 5 matches so without wasting anymore time, let’s get into it!
Hell in a Cell match: CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre
The show led off on the hottest note possible as the ultimate bad blood rivals of the year, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre stepped into Hell in a Cell together. These men promised to beat, batter, injure, and potentially even kill one another inside this structure (yes, I’m not exaggerating either), so I expected this to be a brutal affair, but I don’t think anything could have fully prepared me for the violence of this match until it was laid out in front of me, especially for WWE standards. Steel steps, chairs, wrenches, toolboxes, tables, chains, and more were utilized in this match as both men tore into and bloodied one another. Some high spots included the suplex off the apron and through the table on the outside of the ring from McIntyre to Punk, the toolbox smashes to McIntyre’s face from Punk that initially bloodied him, and Drew absolutely obliterating his spine off the corner of the steel steps as Punk moved out of the way of his signature Claymore Kick (you can’t fake that and that looked painful as all hell). Both these men donned a crimson mask of blood at various points throughout this contest, it has been a while since that amount of blood was intentionally spilled inside a WWE ring and it made sense here as this rivalry has reached an absolute boiling point that the blood added that extra level of intensity to an already intense showdown and promise for violence. Punk won the contest after Drew poured the symbolic bracelet beads onto Punk’s head and attempted the Claymore Kick, but Punk moved out of the way and Drew collided into the steel steps which set Punk up for a patented GTS with a chain wrapped around his knee for added impact, but not before shoving the bracelet beads into Drew’s mouth before delivering the final blow. Both men were battered and medically attended to after the contest. This was the right call and allows both men to move onto new pastures now after being wrapped up in this rivalry with one another for close to 10 months, a perfect cap off to the most heated rivalry of 2024.
Women’s Championship match: Nia Jax (c) vs Bayley
These 2 have developed quite a rivalry with one another throughout their careers and seem to know each other’s playbooks if you will, pretty well at this point as both women attempted to pull out some new or less seen moves and counters from their repertoire to gain the advantage over one another throughout this contest. Jax gained the upper hand early, and momentum continued to sway in her advantage throughout the matchup based on her simple size and strength, but Bayley brought the fight to her as well with the tenacity and heart that she built her career on. These girls were in a tough spot following up the awesome and brutal 48-minute Hell in a Cell, but they delivered with what they were given and told a good story throughout as well. It was not perfect, but then again most of the time I feel it won’t all look fluent and pretty when it comes to Nia Jax matches, but they recovered from the missteps and put on a competent and mainly well-done match. Later in the contest, Bayley kicked Nia in the head and she fell splat on top of referee Jessika Carr who was getting back to her feet already after being bumped moments before, allowing Tiffany Stratton to make her presence known in the match. She rushed down to ringside and bashed the briefcase into Bayley’s head before throwing it down and checking on Nia. While all this was going on though, referee Jessika Carr recovered and grabbed for the briefcase thinking Tiffy was in the ring to cash in, which caused Tiffy to feel the wrath of Nia who sat up like the damn Undertaker when she saw the referee reach for the briefcase and began berating Tiffany. Capitalizing off the distraction, Bayley scored a near fall off a roll up before going to the top rope for added damage to the champ. A momentary distraction from Tiffany from the outside is all it took though, as Nia climbed up the turnbuckles and delivered a devastating Samoan Drop to Bayley from the second rope before connecting with a thunderous Annihilator for the pin. Tiffany looked on from the outside with her briefcase in hand and a certain look in her eye (perhaps one of regret or envy?) This match served it’s purpose and advanced the Tiffy/Jax storyline, but I just hope this doesn’t make Bayley fall into oblivion once again. I’m not real sure where you go with her from here, but she’s one of the most talented and veteran women on the roster so she needs to have a certain level of relevancy at all times.
Damian Priest vs Finn Balor
The new formation of Judgment Day has left Damian and Rhea both at their wits end for a couple of months now, but Bad Blood was their chance to finally get their hands on the Judgment Day members that each respectively had the most issues with, in a somewhat fair and contained environment. Damian was the first one to get that chance as he battled longtime friend turned bitter rival, Finn Balor one on one. This match never truly felt like Damian was at jeopardy to lose, at least not to me especially given the buildup of what got us to this point in the rivalry and how things have played out on Raw in recent weeks. They still put on a competent and well done match though and gave us some moments where Finn truly felt like he may sneak away with one over the Archer of Infamy, especially once the Judgment Day made their presence known in the match. Priest looked like he was closing in on victory when JD and Carlito rushed ringside, Carlito distracted the ref for a moment while JD began the beatdown on Priest until Balor recovered and joined in. Balor landed a Coup de Grace on Priest but only got a 2 count as Priest came roaring back into the contest. He quickly dispatched JD and Carlito tossing them over the ropes and onto the floor, but off the distractions Finn capitalized and began wearing Priest down before landing a pair of Coup de Graces to Damian’s back, but as he went for the 3rd Damian popped up and leveled Balor with a South of Heaven chokeslam for the pin. These 2 undoubtably have good chemistry with one another and put on a great clean match, but the new Judgment Day looks more incompetent with every loss, especially when they interfere and still can’t get the job done. I love Priest and want to keep his main event status cemented where it is, but I’m not sure I need a whole lot more matches between him and the Judgment Day unless we add some layers to this story to keep things fresh moving forward.
HHH Announcement on Crown Jewel
WWE’s Chief Operating Officer, The Game came out to unveil the Crown Jewel Championship and explain that at Crown Jewel on November 2nd the two world champions in the men’s and women’s division will compete against each other and the winner of those matches winning the Crown Jewel Championship belt. World Heavyweight Champ, Gunther wasted little time to come down and talk some smack before turning his attention to WWE Hall of Famer, Goldberg who sat ringside with his family and in front on his home crowd. Goldberg hopped the barricade and looked ready to do battle with Gunther but security intervened and kept the 2 separate. Sami Zayn ran in though, jumping Gunther from behind previewing their title match on Raw and chased him away as Goldberg stood tall in the ring with Triple H.
Women’s World Championship match: Liv Morgan (c) vs Rhea Ripley
Bad Blood wasn’t short of some big returns as well as some big entrances making it feel like a pretty important Premium Live Event. Cue Dom and Liv’s entrance to the ring in a classic, Eddie Guerrero-esk lowrider with the top down. Dom’s smooth criminal (pun intended) act wouldn’t last though as moments later he was hoisted into the air, knees trembling, locked inside a shark cage. The first while of this match featured a pretty good back and forth between the vicious and powerful Rhea Ripley and her scrappy man stealing, title taking opponent turned bitter rival. The early portions of the match saw Liv use Rhea’s anger and intensity against her to take advantage during multiple different moments, before Mami started dominating the later portions of the bout. Enter the shenanigans that we knew were bound to happen in this kind of a matchup. Dominik somehow opened the door to the shark cage as it was in the air and began trying to slowly descend (he’s scared of heights y’all) to save his girl Liv. Dom got his leg wrapped around a chain in the cage though (not sure why or where that came from but we’re gonna roll with it) and fell where he hung upside down from the shark cage by his leg. This drew the attention of one Miss Ripley who had the advantage on the champ in the ring and took a moment out to have some fun at Dominik’s expense as she grabbed a kendo stick and began teeing off on him. Raquel Rodriguez returned and came charging down to ringside where she began beating down Ripley and stopped the match by disqualification. The trio of the Women’s World champ, Dom, and Raquel celebrated over Ripley in the ring after the match. Raquel is back and she seems to be working alongside the Judgment Day and added into this feud with Ripley, which is pretty neat I guess, I’ve always kind of liked Raquel, she’s a bigger competitor in the women’s division that can actually go and she’s a formidable opponent for someone like Rhea Ripley. I always thought she’d operate better as a heel too so now that we’re getting that that’s going to be a plus, I’d think moving forward. Who will Liv face next for the championship with Rhea busy with Raquel or will Rhea keep herself in the title picture moving forward? Hmmm.
Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu vs Roman Reigns & Cody Rhodes
The longtime rivals turned reluctant allies in the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes and the OTC, Roman Reigns teamed up to do battle against a common foe in the New Bloodline. This match had multiple things that made it special for the modern-day Mega Powers as it was Cody Rhodes hometown return, and he received a grand welcome with marching band and all. It also happened to be Roman Reigns return to the ring and his first official match back since WrestleMania XL as he was played out to the ring by an orchestra. After a couple grand entrances and everyone’s instruments were wheeled to the back, we got this main event underway! Cody and Roman had the electricity of this crowd behind them and dominated the early portions of this match, Roman receiving a big pop the first time Cody tagged him into the match, and he made his official return to the ring. The scrappy underdog heels got their footing underneath them though partway through the contest and began to dominate the pacing of the matchup, keeping Rhodes away from his corner and unable to tag Roman while delivering fast paced offense to the American Nightmare. Cody found some separation though and made the hot tag to Reigns who came in and started cleaning house. The mega team began rolling form there, with Rhodes taking out Fatu with a splash from the top of the ring post from the announce table so Reigns could solely focus on Solo. As Reigns was close to closing in on victory, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa made their presence known at ring side, but before they were taken out before they could get any further by a hooded assailant who revealed himself to be Jimmy Uso! Off the distraction, Reigns leveled Solo with a Spear for the pinfall. Roman and Jimmy hugged and began walking out together after the match, but a Bloodline beatdown in the ring to Cody Rhodes drew them back as they charged back into the ring and fended off Solo and the cronies. A tense stare down between the 3 ensued in the ring but was interrupted by a “If Ya Smelllll!” and the Final Boss, The Rock returned to stare holes through both The Champion and The OTC from the top of the ramp as the show went off air. This was a crazy ending to the match and the show, full of wild returns and plot thickening material, but where does this take things from here? Will Roman and Cody continue having to coexist moving forward over common enemies? Can they even? Where does Cody and the Universal Championship go from here? Who is The Rock even back for? Cody and the title? Or Roman and the right to the true head of the table? Hopefully all these questions will be answered soon, this Bloodline business has been going on for years and frankly has never felt dull. There may have been some lulls in the story, but this has been one of the consistently best told stories in wrestling for multiple years now and we don’t look like we’re nearing the finish line anytime in the near future.
